KT’S OK with Hynde sight

Scots rocker’s bouncing back to her best with the help of her new Pretenders friend

Multi-million-selling singer songwriter KT Tunstall is certainly an adaptable survivor. At 43, the Brit and Ivor Novello winning Scot has been through a personal hell and come out the other side.

And on new album WAX she teams up with producer Nick Mccarthy from Franz Ferdinand to fly her rock chick flag high.

Its combative and liberating sound is the product of a woman who has rebuilt her life after her 2013 divorce from drummer Luke Bullen.

She lost her North London home and had to pay the legal costs, ending up broke.

“I feel the divorce laws in Britain are f **** d and need seriously looking at because it’s not a fair process,” she says. “After having no money for my entire twenties and working my arse off, I finally found myself and made some money – only to end up losing half of it.

“It was just totally unfair – we didn’t have kids. No one did anything wrong.”

But with a supercharged new album and a triumphant summer touring with Simple Minds and her new best mate, Pretenders star Chrissie Hynde (right), Tunstall – who divides her time between LA and London – is not one to wallow in the past. “It’s definitely taken quite a long time to find peace with that process,” she says. “But thankfully I’ve got there, because there’s no good in staying angry about stuff. It’s just money. I can make it back. I’m talented and I’m driven and I love my work. So it’s fine. And ultimately, I learnt so much about myself and about other people.” She says she’s also learnt a lot from spending time with two original rock chicks – on tour with Chrissie, 67, and in the studio with 68-year-old Suzi Quatro.

“I was completely overwhelmed, because every night Chrissie would give me a shout-out from the stage when The Pretenders were on. She was saying I was incredible and that I inspire her,” says Tunstall.

“I said, ‘What are you talking about, I inspire you?’. She looks at me and she goes ‘Well, you know. You’re just so friendly’. I was like ‘Listen, Chrissie, I need some of what you’ve got’. She said, ‘All right, let’s make a pact.

“‘You teach me how to be more friendly. I’ll teach you how to be more of a c***.’”

■ WAX is out today